Saturday, December 16, 2006

US nationals day 2

Nys wins in Essen Belgium

bart wellens 2nd. back in the states is was the most beautiful day with no clouds for the big race.

the U 23 race was so exciting i didn't think it could get much more intense than this. last year i watched jesse anthony race his heart out and this year he did it again. below he leads fellow racer jamie driscoll up the run up. behind was a very dangerous trio containing Bejorn Selander. he managed 3rd behind the charging morgan schmidt at the line. that U 23 race was the most exciting bit of drama i had seen in a long time. the intesnisty of anthony coming accross the line was chilling.

but after that i was in for the biggest treat of the weekend. standing next to the best cyclo-crossers in the country. this was the front line. holy shit was it tense in the seconds leading to the start. if you click this photo standing next to schouten, wells, johnson, powers, white, wicks, trebon and mccormack. holy shit! page was second row with some other big favorites, horner token etc. i grabbed as many photos as i could before they launched. i mean launch!

just minutes before the staging the representing blue wave studs old scar face himself and weinert were among the best in the country waiting to stage. i didn't catch their final results. great racing though.

ron kept telling me he wanted a really cool cow bell for these big races. i think this was the coolest cow bell i found on the day. this was one of the many weird ass images i had all day. i think you need a license to carry a bell of this caliber. hilarious.

so i'm waiting for the U23 race to be over and standing right behind me is US legend steve "tilly" tilford waiting to hit the course for the 2nd time in 2 days. he rode like a stud today and was in a great group. wow this guys just kills people at the ripe young age of 47 years young.